Sunday, August 26, 2007

We thought we'd take the pup for a walk in the coulees this afternoon, as we had "ignored" her for 2 days while we were preparing for a party we had on Sat. We were only about 50 steps from the car when the dog stopped to poke around at something. That something started rattling, and we quickly realised she had found a rattlesnake! Fortunately she is somewhat obedient, and when John & I started yelling she came away. I went back to take some pictures of it, but I wasn't that keen on getting too close, so I don't know how clear the snake will be. I don't what the striking range is for a rattlesnake, but I didn't want to find out! It was a bit hard to tell as it was coiled up, but it seemed to be about 6 feet long, and 3-4 inches in diameter.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Back in November I posted pictures of the old house on Elm Rd having been torn down. When we were back in Toronto in July I took some pictures of what they built in its place. Bit of a difference, eh??

We stopped in a little place in Saskatchewan, and were encouraged to go into the town to see the swinging bridge. Both John & I thought swing bridge, not swinging. Anyway, we tried to walk across it, but the dog couldn't get her sea legs. She was flipping and flopping all over the place as the bridge did its swinging. It was pretty funny to us, but not so much to her. We gave up.

We kept seeing all this white stuff in Sask, which looked like snow, but clearly wasn't. I could look up what it is, but I haven't yet. Potash maybe? If anyone knows, let me know.

The last night on the road was spent in Regina. It also seemed like a nice place. The area just outside it really reminded me of the Kent County area - really flat farmland. Once we got further along though, the landscape became quite rolling, and was really pretty.

Next we stayed in Kenora. I quite like Kenora, although it's in the middle of nowhere. It's a pretty little place, and they seem to make a real effort to keep it looking good. There was a triathlon on the Sunday. We didn't get to see it, but there were a number of people at our hotel who were racing.

I got a kick out of this sign, that was posted in our hotel. Naturally, Molly had to go out for a pee at 2:30am, so I had to go out first to make sure there were no bears about.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Well, now that several weeks have passed since we got home, it's about time I updated the blog.

Wow, that was a long trip to Ontario. A month is a really long time to be away. It was good to see everyone though, and that's all that matters.

The trip home (to Lethbridge) was enjoyable, so that was good. We actually took some pictures along the way, which we didn't on the way to Ontario. There was nothing to take pictures of! The Canadian route is much more scenic than the US, although the extra day makes it long. At one point we had Molly out for a pee, and she would not head back to the car. I think she was just fed up with the whole thing! Fortunately, we had only 2 hours of driving left at that point.

Since getting home, we've both been out riding a lot, and I've finally started painting the house. It took a while for me to get up the energy to do it, that's for sure. So far the mudroom,laundry room, kitchen and guest bathroom are done. I just started painting the main part of the house today. That will take a while. It's a pretty big house once you start painting! There is a ton of trim too, and it's an accent colour. Between taping it to paint the walls, then taping the walls to paint the trim, I may still be at it at Christmas.

We stayed at the Wawa Motor Inn. Everyone was really nice, and they had a great feature of a boxed lunch. You put your order in the night before, and before you leave in the morning, you pick it up to take with you. I think it's usually the hunters & fishermen that use the service, but it was great for us. We got 2 big sandwiches, 2 drinks, and a muffin for $10. It was nice to have fresh, homemade sandwiches for lunch, rather than fast food.

The room left a little to be desired though. You couldn't walk on the carpet without shoes, it was so old and dirty (see picture below). It was hot too, as there was no a/c. However, it was quiet, and Molly thought she was at a cottage, so she enjoyed it. Although we didn't see any, we could hear chipmunks in the woods behind the cabin. She was on high alert, just in case one ran out and needed to be chased.